October 18

Births

1926: Chuck Berry (Guitarist & Singer)

1947: Laura Nyro (Singer / Songwriter)

1949: Gary Richrath (Guitar for REO Speedwagon)

1961: Wynton Marsalis (Jazz Trumpeter)

1974: Peter Svensson (Guitar for The Cardigans)

1977: Simon Rix (Bass for the Kaiser Chiefs)

1982: Ne-Yo ( Shaffer Chimere Smith) (R&B Singer)

1984: Esperanza Spalding (Jazz Bassist)

1987: Zachary Efron (Singer / Actor)

Events

1952: Hank Williams marries Billie Jean Jones Eshliman in Minden, Louisiana. On the way back to Shreveport, their car runs out of gas.

1957: For the Quarrymen's gig at the New Clubmoor Hall, Norris Green, Liverpool, Paul McCartney joins the group on stage for the first time, as a guitar player. Having made a few mistakes on his solo for Arthur Smith's "Guitar Boogie," a distressed and nervous McCartney attempts to repair his image by showing Quarrymen leader John Lennon some of the songs he's composed. John responds in kind, leading to the beginning of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership.

1957: ABC-TV debuts The Frank Sinatra Show.

1959: 75 teens are arrested outside of the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, KS after a riot breaks out, further making civic leaders to decry the rock and roll "menace."

1963: Chuck Berry is released from prison after serving 19 months for a Mann Act violation (transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes).

1966: The Jimi Hendrix Experience played their first gig as a band supporting French pop star Johnny Hallyday at the Paris Olympia in France.

1968: John Lennon and Yoko Ono are busted for marijuana possession in their apartment in London's Montague Square, a flat leased to them by Ringo and previously lived in by Jimi Hendrix. Having gotten wind of the bust ahead of time (and also having begun experimenting with heroin), John, Yoko, and John's friend Pete Shotton clean the place to within an inch of its life, but the police nevertheless claim to find approximately 230 grains of cannabis resin, enough to arrest the two. They were fined $250.

1969: In Hawaii, Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane is arrested for possession of marijuana.

1969: Rod Stewart joins the Faces, formerly known as the Small Faces.

1969: A clearly ill Bill Haley plays the First Annual Rock and Roll Revival show at New York's Madison Square Garden and, at the end of his set, receives an eight-minute standing ovation.

1969: The Jackson 5 make their television debut when they appear on tonight's episode of ABC's variety show Hollywood Palace.

1974: Al Green's ex, Mary Woodson, still jealous over his infidelities, breaks into his home in Memphis, TN, and dumps a pot of boiling grits on the singer's naked body while he is in the bathtub, burning Green very badly. A distraught Woodson then goes into the next room and takes her life with a handgun. Green will later point to this incident as one of the major catalysts for his decision to leave secular music behind.

1975: Paul Simon reunites with former partner Art Garfunkel on tonight's second-ever episode of Saturday Night Live, performing "Scarborough Fair," "The Boxer," and their new single, "My Little Town."

1979: Police break up a 15-man robbery ring set up in the parking lot of Madison Square Garden during an Earth, Wind and Fire concert there.

1986: Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie marries her second husband, Portugese music composer Eduardo Quintela.

1989: During a gig at The Los Angeles Coliseum, California, (Opening for The Rolling Stones)Guns N' Roses front man Axl Rose announced to the crowd that he was quitting the band.

1990: The city of Los Angeles declares today "Rocky Horror Picture Show Day" in honor of the 1975 cult classic musical.

1992: Lynn Anderson was released from jail after serving two days in jail in Nashville, TN for a contempt of court sentence for swearing in front of her children.

1998: Metallica performed at the Playboy Mansion.

2002: Citing a contract all group members signed in 1963, the New York Court of Appeals overturns an earlier ruling that awarded three million dollars in unpaid royalties from Phil Spector to the Ronettes, ending a 15-year court battle for the group.

2005: Madonna admitted that she wrote a grovelling letter to Abba asking if she could sample their music on her latest single ‘Hung Up.’ The singer had to seek permission to sample ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ and became only the second act that Abba has allowed to sample their work. The Fugees used part of ‘The Name Of The Game’ on their 1996 track ‘Rumble In The Jungle.’

2007: South African reggae star, Lucky Dube was shot dead by car thieves when he was dropping his teenage son and daughter off in a Johannesburg suburb. Police said Dube's son and daughter were already out of the car when three shots were fired through the car window, witnesses said the wounded singer tried to drive away, but lost control of his car and hit a tree.

2007: Amy Winehouse and her husband Blake Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway and held overnight for possession of cannabis. The singer was released the following morning after paying a fine of $714.

2008: Adele appeared on Saturday Night Live along with then US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The show earned its highest ratings in 14 years with a total of 17 million viewers.

2009: Toby Keith is named Songwriter/Artist of the Decade and "Live Like You Were Dying" author Craig Wiseman is honored as Songwriter of the Decade by the Nashville Songwriters Association International.